About Coastal BioMarine

The purpose of the research at Coastal BioMarine is to improve husbandry of the animals to enhance commercial production of food and jewels. 



The focus is on new approaches as opposed to incremental improvements to existing practices.

We adhere to two underlying premises:

1. Pollution, disease, competing uses and regulation render most of the world’s estuaries untenable for long term commercial purposes.
   
   
2. The markets that will provide the best commercial reward are the epicurean segment of the food market and the quality pearl market.

The new development that will deal effectively with the decline of the world’s estuaries and reverse the fortunes of the half shell oyster business is a grow-out system totally divorced from natural waters.  Development of such a system is very demanding as a number of investigators have demonstrated.  Nonetheless, the development is essential.  The half-shell oyster business in much of the developed world will remain in decline without it.  Lucrative improvements in pearl production will be thwarted without it.

The development is essential because it provides the opportunity for application of automation and selective breeding, two essential technologies for the revival of the half shell business. 

These two technologies have driven improvements in crop and meat production to levels unimaginable 50 years ago.  These two technologies will have a similar effect on shellfish production, distribution and marketing.  Until then, nature’s harsh conditions will thwart progress.

The incentive to develop a closed grow-out system has received a recent spur from the market place. 

The price of oysters in New England has risen to $0.50 to $0.70 apiece for common catch and to $2.75 to $3.00 for home delivery of Washington State oysters.  Economic analyses of a closed system indicate that production of oysters can be profitable at the current price range for common catch.  More importantly, the sale of Washington State oysters in New England is an excellent example of the effect of quality on price and is proof positive that discriminating buyers will pay a substantial premium for quality.  It is this higher-quality market that will provide economic support for the first closed systems.

 Currently, the yield to jewel quality is in the range of five to ten percent.  The improvement of yield via reduction of post-seeding infection, selective breeding of stocks and other means only possible in a closed system will have great economic impact.  World-wide, pearls are a multibillion dollar per year business.  Significant improvements in the yield of jewels will produce substantial rewards.

Research at Coastal BioMarine indicates that nutrition issues are the principal keys to commercialization of a closed system for oysters.